[Red October1984]

Originally Posted by Stealhead

If you ask me the things that greatly increase the challenge are the ones that make things limited O2,fuel,batteries,not being invincible,realistic senors,realistic repair, all of those turned off make the game much much less challenging.

+1 I agree

Really manual targeting is not that hard it is just a matter of enjoying or not enjoying going through all those steps.Learning the steps and their order is the main thing that effects the TDC.Sometimes I just do not want to do all of that crap.Some skippers allowed their XO to man the scope during the attack allowing them to have a better total picture of what is going on both indies the boat and in battle.So my "realism" legitimation in Rockin Robbins "It is how you play" words is that in my boat usually the XO is handling the attack.Map contacts on well I have 4 or 5 enlisted men and NCO's and a few officers in the conning tower all plotting this data down for me/the boat.... a fleet boat is a team of 75 men working together to cause as much damage to the enemy as possiable.

I would learn manual targeting...but like you say the XO would man the scope sometimes. As a captain, I would have people who could do the manual targeting for me. The Fleet Boat TDC had the position keeper that updated itself. I'm not sure exactly how it works...but essentially if my thinking is correct IRL you have somebody feeding the data to another who is working the TDC with me, the captain, giving orders.

That's why I feel Manual Targeting isn't needed in my game. Same with Map Contact Update. I would have people for that as a Captain.

Originally Posted by Gryffon300

What to try first? Decisions, decisions....

Me personally? I highly recommend TMO with RSRDC and Traveller's Mod installed over it. It keeps the realistic feel of TMO while not sacrificing historical accuracy as much as say, GFO.

So, you are spot on. I certainly didn't expect to be Medalled so soon! This early in the war, maybe the AI on the destroyer screen is not as competent - evasion wasn't too hard. In addition, all of the aircraft bombing runs went long, and there were no Kamikazi attempts by the shot-downs, so it was pretty easy by comparison. It seemed way too easy for my AI to shoot them down, and there were a hell of a lot of them, so by the end of the cruise, I didn't bother diving - just put a good guy on the guns, go to flank, and try to get perpendicular to their attack-run (so Gunny could get at them coming and going, as well as giving them a narrow target).

Kamikaze was a late-war thing the Japanese did as a last-ditch effort.

And IIRC the Japanese didn't have much in the way of Sonar Technology in the early years of the war. And if you're playing stock, it's basically "Turkey Shoot in the South Pacific" instead of Silent Hunter 4 Wolves of the Pacific.

IRL there is no way you'd be able to attack an escorted ship (or even a merchant...it just might be a Q-Ship. ) on the surface with guns. You'd take too much damage. Yes, I've done it successfully in the modded game with a Gar class but that's not important. Neither is the fact that I took on a small task force in a Narwhal and made it out alive... I wasn't alive for long in either scenario. In my experience with Stock, you can do whatever the hell you want in the game. The first time I played the game modded, it was a challenge to go after two destroyers and a light cruiser in an S-boat out of Manila. It was FUN too! TMO ramps up the difficulty (aided by RSRDC and Traveller's Mod) to give you the state of mind that you are the captain. Should I attack this convoy? Can I realistically do it with good chances of survival? Should I just report this to command and wait for an intercepting force? Stuff like that.

I am looking forward to more realistic map-tracking. Some balance between showing none and almost all should be better and, as you say, more realistic. I suspect our play philosophy and 'native' level are intuitively about the same. Once I know my way around the systems in this game, I'll be fascinated to compare notes.

You can read my theory once again. IRL you would have people for that. Of course, there should be a little less information on the map than what is there. It should take a bit of time to get some of that information.

Once again, it's how you play.

Originally Posted by Gryffon300

I play with camera disabled, but will occasionally pop up on the event camera to see the Pretty Fireworks when the torps hit. (I have been caught a few times lingering too long on the scope to watch the hit rather than diving to get below the thermocline.)

That's what happens when you get caught spectating. It's happened to all of us.

The one 'realism' issue that worried me in the stack game was that although 'limited fuel' was checked, the fuel level never moved for the entire cruise - hopefully a mod will 'fix' that. I also had a weird 'CO2' over 10 % warning that I couldn't shift (even though I was surfaced). Although I tried a couple of dive cycles, only saving and exiting cleared it.

Well how far were you going? Fuel consumption has a few different factors that contribute here. Running at Ahead Standard won't leave you enough fuel oil to get back home after reaching your patrol area. That's a lesson I learned quickly when I first started playing SH4. I had been used to SH3 where running at 15 knots on the surface was fine and dandy with more than enough fuel to return home. I've found that if you watch how much time you spend on-station running at 10 knots (Ahead 2/3 for Fleet Boats; Better run at 6 knots in an S-Boat) will get you where you need to go and you have enough fuel to get home. Of course 90% of my patrols take place in the South China Sea, SLOT, and South Pacific areas. I haven't spent much time seriously patrolling the Home Waters of the Empire of Japan...

Something about Bungo Pete....

So, on to a modded version. Which to choose? Which to choose?!!! (I tried GFO with Order Bar patch and couldn't see any differences, though I have just loaded it with TMO, and that seems to have applied perfectly - got to go wet a snorkel!

Give TMO, RSRDC, and TM a try. It's my preferred mod choice. After that, it's up to you.

Tight Hatches.

Don't forget to shut the Main Induction Vent and secure the diesels.